SANTA FE – Earlier today, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver was notified that District Court Judge Sarah Singleton has denied Governor Susana Martinez’s request to stay pending appeal the chaptering of ten bills that the Governor improperly vetoed during the 2017 legislative session. Upon receiving the ten bills from the House and Senate Clerks this morning, Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver has chaptered all ten bills.

“As ordered by the Court, my office has swiftly chaptered all ten of the bills that the Court determined were improperly vetoed during the 2017 legislative session,” said Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver.

Judge Singleton filed a Peremptory Writ of Mandamus on September 5, 2017, that ordered Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver to chapter the ten bills as soon as the Judge ruled on the stay request or sixty days after the Peremptory Writ of Mandamus was filed, whichever happened earlier. That ruling was received today.

Specifically, on September 5, 2017, Judge Singleton ordered that:

“[a]fter waiting until the parties have received notice of the Court’s written ruling on any motion for stay pending appeal, or for a period of 60 days from the filing date of this Permanent Writ of Mandamus, whichever is earlier, the Secretary of State is ordered to accept the ten bills listed above as delivered to her by the Legislature, and to include them as law in the official Session Laws of the First Session of the 53rd Legislature of the State of New Mexico.” (emphasis added)

The Peremptory Writ of Mandamus filed by Judge Singleton on September 5, 2017 and her Order Denying Stay Pending Appeal that was filed on September 27, 2017 are attached to this release.

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The bills in question ranged from legalizing hemp research and growing in New Mexico, to expanding access to broadband internet in the state, to allowing students taking computer science courses to apply those credits toward math requirements.